Danny rubbed at her eyes, sure she was seeing double.
The twin on the right laughed, a hoarse, ugly sound. “Bloke was telling the truth. I’ll be damned.”
Percy tensed at her side. “What do you want?”
“Payment.”
“What payment?” Percy glanced at the rooftops, his jaw tight. He mumbled something that sounded like, “Therehadbeen eyes on us.” Louder, he said, “Who told you we were here?”
“What’s this? A talkative mark?” The man elbowed his brother. “Freddy, the bastard wants to talk.”
“No time for that.” Freddy’s gaze raked over Danny’s body. “I’m eager for payment.”
Danny shuddered as Percy placed her behind him.
“When I tell you to,” he whispered, “run.”
Panic pitched her words high. “There are two of them!”
“And more on the way.” Freddy sidestepped, placing himself in her path of escape with a triumphant smile. “No use running, chicken.”
“Not in those fine skirts.” The brother laughed.
“Go on, George.” Freddy nodded towards Percy. “But don’t be too quick.” His slimy gaze landed on Danny once again. “I want to take my time.”
Danny’s hand went to her reticule and to her pistol safely tucked inside, but Percy’s hand stayed her.
His head shake was infinitesimal.
She heard his unspoken words:I’ll take care of them. Run.
Running solved nothing, she knew firsthand. The clawed fingers of memory snagged at her calm, but Danny wouldn’t let herself fall apart. Not here and not now.
Gaze flicking to the glint of blades and hearing the man’s wordsmore on the way, Danny took stock of her limited weapons—a single bullet in her pistol’s chamber with two bodies to stop—and swallowed her frustration down to do the only thing she could.
She screamed.
All three men cringed.
In between one scream and the next, Freddy spat at his brother, “Shut ’er up before we ’ave the bobbies chasin’ us down.”
Percy shook off his shock as the other twin stalked forward and sent him to the ground with a kick to the knee and a nasty crack to the face.
George went down, cradling his leg and spitting curses.
While Freddy skirted back, using his brother’s body as an obstacle, Percy had no choice but to step over in the narrow alley.
Danny drew the gun from her reticule and trained it on George, who froze coming to his feet. “Don’t move,” she said.
Percy wrestled with his opponent, but Freddy got in a lucky shot to his shoulder. He went down and the twin beelined straight for her.
Danny whirled to face him head on, shifting the gun to retrain the scope.
Fingers wrapped around her ankle and pulled the legs out from under her. She went down in a heap of skirts, her hip smarting as it struck the cobblestones.
The gun went off with a loudcrackand fell out of her hands, now useless.
Percy’s shout of warning came too late.
